Marco Rubio: The Contender Who Could Have Been

Marco Rubio. He could have been a contender. He could have been somebody.

Now, his one-time supporters are watching his chances drift down the waterfront. Whatever hustle and bustle he promised, he failed to deliver. At least Academy Award winner Marlon Brando possessed skill and charisma. Even when he aged, Brando knew how to master the screen and impress the audiences.

Rubio was a flash in the pan, and no matter what he tried to do, he made more offers, which the public continued to refuse.

Rubio was supposed to be a blockbuster of a candidate, an example to younger generations that you can work hard and make your way up in the world. You can stick to your principles and still make it in politics, too.

Instead, he went to the dark side, another could have been who has become has-been.

The one-time Tea Party darling brought down the established political order in Florida in 2010. Now has become a part of the decaying Establishment Death Star he had first rebelled against.

He is young and telegenic. He does not annoy the audience of ready young listeners. The only Republican candidate to offer a plan for solving student loan debt, Rubio is sinking to lower and lower lows.

The former Luke Skywalker of the GOP has become another Sith Lord, at least in the eyes of those who despite amnesty, who demand the rule of law, and are looking for the boldest, strongest voices in our country to fight for liberty and not look back.

Marco Rubio, if he had only repudiated his collective cowardice and said “No!” to amnesty. Even after brokering the Gang of Eight Bill in 2013, the Obamacare of Immigration Reform, Rubio could have confided to the masses and to the donors that he made a mistake.

Yet Rubio would never concede. 

 

For this reticence, he will have to relinquish his Presidential aspirations.

And he has been an ambitious politico for years.

Ambitious, however, can give way to lack of principle. He was willing to cave on Cap and Trade, a comprehensive takeover of local and national business interests, at the expense of working men and women. Even though the Democratically controlled House of Representatives passed the bill in 2008, it died very quickly and quietly in the US Senate.

Rubio wants to be liked, and like all politicians has strayed away from issues that will incite controversy, disagreement, and even deprive him of certain votes.

When it came to gay marriage, Rubio said that the American people should obey the law. He also believed that homosexual conduct is innate, but then argued against gay marriage.

What gives? When will we find more elected officials ready to fight the culture wars on our behalf?

On the life issue, I respect Rubio’s long, well-delineated record against abortion on demand. In the first debate last year, Rubio seemed pressured to change his views against abortions in any case, except the life of the mother. Does he know where he stands on key issues, or not?

He has a strong grasp of foreign policy. He remained an outspoken critic of President Obama’s determined arrogance to normalize relations with the Castro regime in Cuba. To this day, the island dictatorship is purging dissidents and stifling freedom of speech and other prized natural liberties.

In spite of his best efforts to stay positive and bring in diverse groups, Rubio is tanking.

Despite the media’s best efforts to play him up as the Favorite Son for the Republican nomination, he has continued to lose favor with the electorate, and the flavor of the donors still looking for the sweet spot of pliant politician bowing to the donor class, but who can engage (and later fool) the base.

Rubio, oh Rubio, wherefore art though Rubio?

Marco Rubio (Gage Skidmore)

 

Donald Trump has taken the sails out of every handsome politico, by saying what everyone wants to say, and acting as if he means it. No more cheaters, no more Hollywood scene-stealers will cut it for Election 2016.

This past week, reports in and around Florida indicated that a nominal number of supporters are attending his campaign events. Ted Cruz has invested heavily in the Sunshine State. While the press played up Rubio’s third place finish in Iowa (in which he relied on the same flawed media narrative of an absentee Carson campaign), and gave him another blast of hope after his dismal New Hampshire finish, the rest of the country was wondering: “When will Little Marco give it a rest?”

The media is all-encompassing in this country. No candidate can run for office on one record of rhetoric in South Carolina, then flip his script in Michigan or California. Rubio wants to claim that his Amnesty bill would get fixed in the House. The record, the legislators, and the voters fed up with open borders are having none of that.

Rubio could have amounted to so much more, yet failed.

Now it’s time for him to go.